Intuition has been a huge part of my life since I was young. It has lead me to incredible people, places, successful businesses, and ultimately to live my life in my own paradise while I still have plenty of time to play in it. I live it and continue to learn it. It helps me daily and in turn I’ve been able to help others through it.
One of my practices is to read and fill my mind with inspiration from others who also lead by example. I’ve gotten to know best selling author Angela Artemis and find what she shares through her books and blogs practical thought provoking ideas on how to develop your practices more deeply, or find them to start with if you are one to be asking yourself, “What is my true passion in life?”
Angela has just published her latest book, The Intuition Principal, sure to go to the top of Amazon as her other books have and I’m honored to interview her here on my blog. (we are giving a copy away at the end of this article so be sure to enter)
Passion
Jt: Passion is something I have always lived my life around. Somehow I developed intuition when I was young. In your book you have a chapter on How to Find Your Passion, Purpose and Authenticity. It is the burning question people have about themselves when they first discover they want or need to make a change and need to name it.
What would you tell people to do as a first step to finding their passion,purpose or authenticity?
Angela: The first step is to get really honest with yourself. Ask yourself if you have been living a life that is true to who you really are or have you been living a life and putting up a front to please others?
I realized that I had been living my life to please others. I followed my father’s advice and majored in accounting….although I later changed my major because I couldn’t stand it. I went into business (finance) to please him and then drove myself to climb the corporate ladder. When I bought my first home on my own after my divorce my father told me he was “real proud of me.” After I heard those words I suddenly realized in a flash what had been driving me my whole life and was freed!
After this, I started focusing on my writing. I became a freelance writer for magazines and the newspaper in my spare time which led to blogging and then to my writing, “The Intuition Principle.”
To find your passion ask yourself three simple questions:
- What interests have I had since childhood that I still have today?
- What type of books do I read? Is there a theme/subject that runs through all of them?
- What do I easily my spend money on to study/train/pursue?
The answers are there and as I said in the book, “Your passion is not hiding from you,” usually it’s right under your nose.
When you identify your passion your purpose will wrapped up within it like a chocolate candy with a cream filling. They come together so just “bite into it.” Once you know your passion it may take a little while to find your way and unearth your purpose but it will come. Don’t rush it. Allow yourself to develop the ways and the time to incorporate your passion into your life.
Once I realized writing was my passion it took a few years for it to hit me that sharing what I had learned about how following my intuition had changed my life was my purpose. Just know and trust that when you find your passion your purpose is not far behind.
Fabulousity Factor
Jt: I personally love the “fabulousity factor” you write about, and again feel it has been part of my own life. The story of selling the house is so real in that my own story goes when I decided to move my life, my business, my passions to Hawaii it involved selling a home I loved in San Diego.
It was a time friends and business colleagues said the market was at an all-time low. Those types of things bother me. I can have a tendency to worry that I would be losing my investment, that I was leaving big money on the table. I could have allowed these outside influences to persuade me.
Yet, I had this feeling, it was the right time for me. I was destined to go cultivate new passion in Hawaii. Sure enough I put my home on the market, at a price higher than the market said I could get. It sold 7 days later for full price. I moved to Hawaii within 4 months of the first day I felt I should go.
How would you advise someone to develop their own fabulousity factor?
Angela: The “fabulousity factor” comes into your life when you live intuitively.
Have you ever been so happy you felt like dancing or jumping up in the air and screaming, “YES! When you are guided to synchronicities and serendipity in your life by your intuition you will have many of these types of joyous moments to celebrate!
When you feel fabulous you have confidence that you are on the right path in your life. You are tuned in to your intuition and allow it to guide you to the right person or place where you meet up with fortunate coincidences that open the next door in your life. Living an “intuitively inspired life” is what creates the “fabulousity factor” in your own life.
Your “fabulousity factor” will burst forth when you feel currents of joy running through your body because you followed your intuition and picked up the phone on an impulse to call someone you hadn’t spoken to in a long time and they have “just the thing/opportunity” for you that you need in your life to take you to the next level.
How to Get the Answers to Life’s Problems
Jt: In your book The Intuition Principle you give a clear action plan on what to do to develop your own sense of answering life’s problems. For the person just beginning this journey without a regular practice of mediation what would you tell them to do to avoid overwhelm and find their own belief in the process?
Angela: One of the easiest ways to get intuitive information is to “ask for a sign.” In your meditation ask that a sign be shown to you that will help you decide something or lead you in the right direction.
If you don’t meditate just go somewhere quiet and close your eyes and allow yourself to become calm. When you are ready ask to be given a sign that will recognize as the answer to the problem you are looking for.
It’s very important not to be attached to one particular outcome/answer/solution. When you are attached to one solution you narrow your vision and because of your expectation that it will “X,” you may miss the creative and more exciting answer the Universe has in store for you.
Tell yourself that you will receive the sign in the next 48 to 72 hours then be on the lookout for it. The sign may arise in a snippet of conversation you overhear somewhere or through something you hear on the radio, see on television or read somewhere. It may also come in a conversation with a friend or colleague. I’ve gotten answers driving past billboards on the highway so, pay attention!
After this, just relax and know that the answer is coming. You will know it to be the answer you were looking for because it will “feel right” when it comes to you. You will feel relieved and have a deep sense of knowing that this is the answer you were looking for. Intuition is a process of “feeling” so focus on how you feel about it.
Cracking the Intuition Code
Jt: Those who practice intuition tend to get noticed especially in the circles we move within. There is a general sense of knowing, a sort of magical confidence surrounding us.
What do you say is your greatest accomplishment or sense of well being that has come of your own practice of intuition?
Angela: The greatest thing that following my intuition has done for me is to finally allow me to create the life I have always dreamed of. I quit my executive job and went back to school. My intuition had been screaming to me for seven years to do it until I finally accepted that nothing else would satisfy me in my life until I did that. When I had lined things up financially I announced to my colleagues and upper management that I would be leaving in a month’s time.
I couldn’t believe the outpouring of support I got! Here I thought I would be shunned and looked at as a fool for giving up this big cushy job with the corner office and instead I was given accolades! Secretly, all these people including directors confessed to me that they too dreamed of escaping the corporate trap.
I was shocked but, as you can imagine pleasantly surprised. I went back to school and got a degree in communications with a concentration in writing. I graduated with honors and got a scholarship to graduate school. It was the most exhilarating and magical time in my life! This changed everything for me. I gained so much confidence and what I learned from it was to trust my inner voice, my intuition.
I realized that my inner voice had been right all along – I didn’t belong in the business world. I allowed what others thought was right for me to influence my decisions. Following my intuition allowed me to take back my power. I now know without a shadow of doubt that when I “feel” that inner tug, that whisper – that longing to do something inside that it is absolutely correct.
The magical quality that people who listen to their intuition exude (their fabulousity factor) comes from the trust they have in their intuition and the confidence they gain from following it. All you have to do is take that first step – trust your inner voice and take action then….you will see the map of your next step and the next materialize before you. And, before you know it you too will be exuding that magical quality that comes from following your intuition and living your dreams.
The Giveaway
Win your copy of The Intuition Principle
How to Enter. It’s easy….
I will announce the WINNER on May 27, 2012
“The Intuition Principle” by Angela Artemis
“The Intuition Principle: How to Attract the Life You Dream Of
“ is a road map to finding your true purpose, passion and path in life. It is a guidebook for uncovering your authentic self through following your intuition. Learning to navigate your life by intuition is the most direct way to finding the joyous life you’ve always dreamed of living. When you learn to go within and follow the ‘intuition principle’ you will bring the world to you in a nearly effortless way.
Or get the Kindle Version
Enter to win your copy in the comments AND on
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